


Past the Limits

by PrincessJessi



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Blood, Child Soldiers, Gen, Kayn's backstory, Violence, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 08:37:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13971354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessJessi/pseuds/PrincessJessi
Summary: "Noxian by birth, Kayn and others like him were conscripted as child soldiers, a cruel practice employed by only the most devious commanders of the empire. Ionian compassion was a weakness to be exploited—their warriors would hesitate before striking down a supposed innocent. Thus, barely able to lift the blade he had been given, Kayn’s first day in battle was also expected to be his last."- quote from Kayn's in-universe bio





	Past the Limits

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is a short piece I had written for the Riot Creative Contest and that I have now decided to just upload here on Ao3  
> Hope you enjoy <3

Kayn’s breath is heavy, frantic, almost painful in his throat. His lungs fail to provide the oxygen his body is begging for, and his mouth tastes like blood and death and other horrors that shouldn’t even have a taste. The foul stench in the air almost makes him gag. His short, black hair is soaked in sweat and blood, his muscles hurt in a way he would have never thought possible.

The scene around him is grotesque, like an absurd play created by an insane mind. A bunch of child soldiers, clumsily holding on to the swords in their hands, fighting grown men and women with sickles and scythes and pitchforks. They are more experienced, bigger, stronger, already hardened by time and life.

The only adults they can do something against are those who freeze at the sight of the children. Those who stand in front of three of them, and look back at their own house before they let go of their improvised weapons and break down weeping and sobbing before one of Kayn’s peers musters up the courage to end their misery.

Many of the children are already dead. Many of them he has never known in the first place. The field is littered with wounded people, dead people. Kayn is exhausted, his ten-year-old body too fragile and overwhelmed with everything happening around him.

 _Where are our forces? They wanted to come, they should already be here…_ Kayn looks around hastily, trying to find the other Noxians, the grown ones, the strong ones. They aren’t here.

Kayn shrieks as someone appears behind him and grabs his sword. He looks up in terror, staring directly into the dark-brown eyes of an olive-skinned woman. Her right hand his tightly grabbing the handle of his sword, in her left hand she is holding a knife. They stand there for seconds, frozen in action, as tears fill her eyes.

“I’m sorry, boy, you don’t deserve this”, she whispers without any strength to her voice. All her force lays in her arm as she rips the sword from Kayn’s hand and readies to ram the knife directly into Kayn’s chest.

In a split second he throws his body to the side, catching the blade with his shoulder, as the woman is knocked to the ground.

He feels nothing for one, two, three seconds, until the pain hits, sudden and sharp and rushing straight through his body. The woman is lying there, cursing, trying to pick up the sword again.

The pain is taking over all of senses, but there is one thought that keeps echoing inside his head quite clearly: _Don’t die. Don’t die. Don’t. Die._

His vision fades to black for a moment before he instinctively reaches for the knife in his arm and pulls it out. There’s a new fit of pain overrunning him as blood spills from his wound, but this time he is not going to be overwhelmed. He allows the pain to strengthen him, and the adrenalin to heighten his senses.

In one sharp motion, he spins around and plunges the knife right into the woman’s heart. She gasps, looking at him with eyes wide. He presses the knife down into her chest with all his little weight, until the shock fades from her eyes, and her body relaxes.

Kayn just kneels there, over her, the knife still in his grasp. His hands are shaking, but seconds later, they are still, very still, and the pain in his shoulder is numb. He feels a surge of power inside him, like a freshly kindled flame, and his lips twitch into something like a smile.

He rises, abandons his sword. Shall she keep it, he doesn’t care. Not anymore. He looks around himself. He spots a rusty sickle on the ground, picks it up and turns around.

 He finds a boy from his vanguard he has seen before, clumsily fighting an older boy, maybe sixteen years old, sword against scythe. Only a second later he has appeared behind the older boy, cutting both of his legs, bringing him to fall. Without a second of hesitation, Kayn thrusts the sickle into the boy’s back.

Once again, he rises and sets eyes on a woman, almost on the opposite end of the battlefield, practicing some basic fire magic to defend herself. The flames are not impressive, and barely enough to burn through some layers clothing but they are a distraction.

Not for him. He leaves the sickle in the boy’s back and instead gets hold of his already bloody scythe, and charges towards her.

He wields the scythe easily, despite his size. It lies in his hands lightly, taking almost no effort to lift up. His legs carry him across the field, towards his next victim.

He prepares to strike but suddenly, all he sees is bright yellow light and all he feels is a heat so scorching, he crumbles in an instant, falling to the ground hard. Everything around him is hot, so hot that his mind is clouded by pain. He feels the fire eating deep into the wound in his shoulder.

His vision fades to black and back to normal to see this sleeve burning and to spot the fire mage who caused this falling to the ground as well as a sword piercing her heart. Then it goes back to black. His entire body feels hot, burning, as the fire within him slowly dwindles.

 He closes his eyes, wishing for the pain to stop.  

The last thing he hears are the roars of older men, screaming “Blood for Noxus!” as they storm the battlefield. At last, they have come, yet none of them bothers to check if he is alive.

Kayn breathes out slowly, lets go, even if it’s just for now, his part of the fighting done.  

**Author's Note:**

> In case you didn't get here from my Twitter, it's @_butterflyjessi  
> I will try to upload some stuff here at some point but I haven't really been feeling like writing lately but I wanted to give this little thing some attention.


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